


Tangled Web

by Staleina



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:23:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3458933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Staleina/pseuds/Staleina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For /u/Girltriesgames  prompt from the r/solasmancers Secret Santa fic party. (Otherwise known as kaybeegtg)</p>
<p>Written for GTGs prompt: "A Solas POV that happens after the dreaded waterfall scene but before the end of the game. He sees that Lavellan is pissed and he sees that she is going around flirting with Cullen as a rebound. He is jealous and sad but knows that she should move on for her own good. Write the awkward sad/angry/jealous but accepting conversation they have about it!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tangled Web

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaybeegtg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaybeegtg/gifts).



> Arynn Lavellan is GTGs Inquisition character. :). She's a dual dagger rogue that did not end things off with Solas at the waterfall on a pleasant note and opted to keep her vallaslin.  
> (Image of Arynn by GTG herself ^_^

  
  


  


Solas had just returned to Skyhold from the waterfall where he had parted ways with Arynn Lavellan. It wasn’t long after arriving that he felt the first ripple effect from his actions either; he had just placed the tired hart in its stall and closed the gate when he heard Cassandra storming up behind him.

“YOU LITTLE SHIT!” Her voice brimmed with rage.

“So it begins...” He sighed to himself. It was fitting that Arynns closest friend would be the first to confront him; he had only hoped he'd get at least one night of rest before it began.

“What were you thinking?” she snapped. He turned to face her just in time for two armoured hands to slam into his chest, winding him and sending him tumbling into the stall wall behind him, the panels of wood clacking together from the force.  
“You end it with her before we face Corypheus? Do you want her weakened before her final fight?”

“Violence Seeker Pentaghast? How typical!” He glared at her scornfully, spitting the words as he spoke. Shems were a revolting race that always resorted to their baser instincts, violence being one of them. “Of course not, it was merely my duty to ensure I was no longer a distraction to the Inquisitor, it had to end. This is none of your concern Cassandra, I am sure you have more important matters to attend to.”

“None of my concern? She is my friend! You court her until her heart is in your hands and then when she needs you most you crush it? Have you no conscience?” Her eyes were hard as steel as they bore into him. The romantic in Cassandra was gutted, she’d allowed herself to get swept away with them by living vicariously through Arynns stories and the flirtatious looks the two elves constantly shared. She’d allowed herself to believe that love wasn’t just something you’d find in a book, but that it could be real and found in even the darkest of times, they were proof of it and yet he had destroyed it. Her protective side wanted to rip him limb from limb ever since she’d seen her friend return with eyes red from tears, if it hadn't been for Cullen catching her before she stormed into the stable and disarming her, she would have had her sword at his throat already.

He went to right himself and step away from the stall but she slammed his body back again, her eyes bore into him and the command was clear _Do Not Move._

“I understand your anger but your time would be best spent comforting her than brutalizing me. Your actions will not change what had happened, I assure you I did not make this decision lightly. Let me go Seeker.”

Her lip curled as she grunted her disgust, her hands clenching into fists at her sides as she stared at him with a look that would cower most men, but he was not most men and returned the stare just as intensely. “I should have expected no better from an apostate. There is only destruction in your wake, you will stay away from her!”

With that she stormed out, leaving him alone to push himself from the wall and to go find a healing balm to mend the bruises that he could already feel forming on his back.

 

~~~

It had been awhile since he'd been to Heralds Rest or any tavern, but he felt a drink was long overdue, he’d had enough of the accusing glares from the servants in the Keep and the bitter and cold food they would bring him, signs of silent rebellion against his actions, letting their opinion of him known through them. He had to start eating his own rations and fetching food straight from the kitchens to avoid receiving anything from them that could contain any unpleasant surprises.

It had also been three days since he was beaten up by a Pentaghast and he deserved a brew. He'd ordered a dwarven stout, settling himself in at a table near the bar once he observed Iron Bull slipping out with the red headed serving girl, much to the bartenders’ dismay. This reassured Solas that he’d be gone for the remainder of the night and that he could drink without risk of being interrogated by a Ben-Hassrath.

It wasn't until he was on his second drink that he heard her lilted laughter, she had come in from an entrance on the upper levels, her light footsteps accompanied by heavier ones, armoured boots perhaps. Only when she descended the stairs could he see who she was with, the Commander Cullen himself, dressed in a little less than his usual armour. He wore a simple white button up shirt with plated bracers over the sleeves, he still wore breeches and boots similar to his normal uniform but it was all much lighter material than usual, almost giving him a roguish look if it weren't for his impressive musculature, contradicting the typical lithe body shape of a rogue.

She was wearing a dress that seemed a cross between Dalish and Antivan styles, the sleeveless gown exposed her shoulders for all to see and plummeted down her back, but the front rose and tapered into a collar at her neck. It was dark green with lighter green embroidery resembling vines all over the fabric, complementing her eyes and vallaslin perfectly. The skirt of it was longer in the front and back in a V shape starting from just six inches below her hips. She was stunning, if not a bit overdressed for the Herald's Rest, but she was clearly having her intended effect. Not only on the man at her side, but most of the tavern as well.

The way her brown tresses fell against her bare back caused his entire body to stir and his mouth water, in that moment he wanted to taste her, to kiss her all along the nape of her neck and trail his fingers along her sides and down her spine. Instead, he took a long swig of his drink; draining the last drop of it and gesturing the barkeep to fetch him another. He muttered to himself a reminder “In tu setheneran din emma na” as the barkeep placed two more mugs in front of him, offering him a look of understanding as he did, barkeeps always knew too much.

Arynn was hanging off of Cullens arm, her body pressed against him, one of her olive skinned hands wrapped around his muscled forearm while the other rested on his chest with her head leaning against his shoulder as she looked up to his face in apparent admiration. Solas sneered _If she fluttered her lashes any harder, they would fly away_.

He turned his chair slightly, putting more of his back to them to give the illusion that he did not see them, to allow himself to ignore them more easily but he could see the flash of green from her eyes as she looked his way. Cullen had let her take a seat while he went to fetch them their drinks and she had spotted Solas even in the darkened corner, elves had sharper eyes than shemlen, Cullen on the other hand was oblivious to the world around him, he only had eyes for her.

Before Solas knew it, Cole was sitting in the seat across from him.

“He hurts from an old pain from before, when everything sang the same. She is real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything, but it can't. They sleep, masked in a mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them…”

“I do not want to talk about that Cole.” Solas forced himself to cut Cole out of those memories.

“You are in pain.”

“I am fine Cole, that is a pain you cannot heal. Talk to me about anything but my sorrow.”

Cole paused a moment, then looked over to Arynn. “She feels her face, marked, marred without malice. She didn't know. She thinks it's why you walked away.”

Solas sighed, letting his eyes drift to her, trailing over her face for a moment, looking over the blood writing that graced her high cheekbones. He would have covered them with gentle kisses if that could have reassured her that they did not ruin her beauty, they were not why he left. “Do not tell me of her pain either Cole, I need something more pleasant.”

“He thought he was invisible, just a soldier to command. She sees him! He feels renewed, strong, hot and hungry...Why hunger?”

“Fenedhis!.” He cursed and put his hand up, gesturing Cole to stop before he rubbed his temples, wanting to rub the thought out of his mind.

“It wasn't your pain. It was nice....” Cole wondered what he’d said wrong.

“Nothing about my pain, hers or his thoughts...that is all I ask.”

“But it could help. He can keep her safe, you wouldn't have to worry.”

“Cole...she's using him to make me jealous.”

“Yes.” Solas waited a moment for Cole to realize the implications of that fact.  
“Oh. That isn't good.” The spirits brows furrowed slightly and his eyes drifted over to Cullen, the corners of his lips turning downward, chewing his lower lip slightly as he mulled on the thought.

“No. It is not.” Solas rested his forehead in his hand, he could leave but he knew that she was punishing him and if this made her feel better than he would endure it, at least for now.

Again he could hear her laughter fill the room and Cullens alongside it, though his was much quieter. They must have had a drink before they'd arrived, it wouldn't be surprising that the Commander would have his own private reserve.

As the night went on, they became more and more familiar with each other. Her lips would graze the edge of Cullens ear as she whispered to him anything that was too scandalous for others to overhear. At the beginning the ex-Templar would falter, unable to handle her advancements, but after a few drinks his nervousness had melted away and instead he would wrap his arm around her and pull her closer in, his amber eyes looking daringly into hers each time, a smirk simmering on his scarred lips. There was a reason many of the noblewomen tripped over themselves at Halamshiral when they saw the Commander and it wasn't going to be long before the Inquisitor noticed as well. If she wasn't careful with her little ploy, she wouldn't be merely playing pretend by the end of the night. She was shielded from his charms when she was with Solas, back then she could see no one else, Cullen was merely an advisor, a shem who knew nothing of her ways, but now things could be different and Cullen could prove to be an entirely new distraction.

The moment her gaze seemed to shift from mischief to heated interest Solas had downed his last drink, he had taken two more after those he had when she'd first arrived and needed Cole to escort him back to his quarters. He didn't fail to notice before he left Heralds Rest that she had crossed her legs towards Cullen, her calf crossing over his, or that her hand was high in his lap, fingers trailing his inner thigh. He also noticed how tightly Cole was pressing his lips together, his eyes wide and brows furrowed, avoiding Solas' gaze until he'd left his side. At least Cole was learning how to be quiet, even if he made it painstakingly obvious that that was what he was trying to do.

~~~

It seemed there was no way to escape it, she would take the route through the atrium to reach Cullens quarters and would walk through the atrium again when she would return to her room. Her clothes and hair dishevelled on her return, her cheeks flushed and a smile on her face. She made a pointed effort not to acknowledge Solas each time she passed his desk, nor did she hush anyone spouting rumours about her and the Commander, if anything she encouraged them, she could be so cruel when she wanted to be.

At times, he could overhear her speaking with Dorian when she would visit him in the library, teasing the Tevinter with minor details of her excursions from the previous night “He’s like releasing a caged lion” “I’ve had to order him a new and sturdier chair!” “Of course we’ve played the Tempted Templar and the Seductive Chantry Sister, sometimes I’m a Desire Demon instead. He’s insatiable!” Solas quickly learned to build a barrier to block out her voice when she’d start talking to Dorian, any more images and he would have been at risk of destroying everything that was in his path.

It wasn't until one evening when Solas had decided he'd had enough that he made his way across the ramparts to the Commanders office, his intent was to ensure that Cullen was aware of what she was doing and that he was alright with it. The Commander was an honourable man and one that Solas had always respected, his Templar past aside, he appeared reasonable or at least respectful the apostate. He wanted to ensure that the Commander was not at any risk of harm, he didn’t want him to be hurt by her actions and risk it affecting the Commanders decisions with the Inquisition.

He was lost in his thoughts thinking of how he would breach the subject when the door to the office opened in front of him and he walked headlong into the Commanders chest, he stumbled a step back only to see the astonished expression on Cullens face “Solas! I, I wasn't expecting you here, did ...did you need something?” Cullens right hand went to rub the back of his neck awkwardly, moving slightly to the side in an attempt to block Solas's view into the office as the door swung back in place.

“I was just coming to see you Commander. I would like to speak with you if you have a moment...”

His eyes slipped past the man in front of him to see a sight he was not prepared to see. Arynn was sitting up on the Commanders desk partially undressed, her tunic, daggers and their sheaths tossed on a chair nearby. She was mid way through adjusting her breast band before looking in their direction. She hadn’t rushed to cover herself, but then again, Dalish were not shy about their bodies, there was little room in the camps for coyness.

The door closed a moment later, leaving the image embedded into his mind. _What was it this time then?..The Commander and his raw recruit? Fenedhis!_

“I'm heading to the battlements. Perhaps we could speak after I’ve calibrated the trebuchets?” Cullen cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with where he was standing and having hoped that Solas had seen nothing.

The apostate peeled his eyes from the heavy wooden door and refocused them on the broad shouldered man before him. “That will be fine.” Solas stepped back so Cullen could walk by, he caught traces of her scent trailing off of the Commanders cloak as he passed him. His muscles tensed as he resisted the urge to use a Stone Fist spell to throttle the former Templar off of the ramparts, he was already forcing himself to keep his face neutral and from betraying his desire to rip Cullens throat from his neck. He’d never hated the man, but a primal territorial instinct in him wanted to fight him every time he thought of him with her. _SHE IS MINE!_

Once he could no longer see the Commanders blond hair, Solas pushed the door open. She had not left the room through one of the other doors, but had moved next to the chair where she was slipping one arm back into her tunic, her eyes looked up to see him as he closed the door.

He caught himself looking her over and cast his eyes to the floor; he had to maintain some sense of decorum. “You need to stop this; it is unworthy of you as an Inquisitor. Your behaviour is inappropriate at this time for the Inquisition. We must focus on what truly matters, in stopping Corypheus”

“You have no right to tell me what to do anymore, nor do I care what you think of my actions or what you deem as appropriate. Your inability to focus is your own concern.” Her eyes were like daggers as they stared at him, her voice challenging him to defy her.

“Commander Cullen is a good man; you are toying with him to hurt me. He does not deserve this and it is becoming a distraction for all of us.”

“I enjoy his and my distractions; you act as if I’m torturing him! He knows what this is and he has yet to complain, if anything, he begs for more.” Her implication was clear as she darted her brow upward and a smirk hinted on her lips. She was digging the dagger deeper.

His eyes lifted to meet hers as he suppressed a growl. He did not want to think of her with him, he didn't want to think of her with anyone else, part of him wanted to grab her and prove to her who owned her, leaving marks all over her skin so anyone could see his claim, but instead he clasped his hands behind his back to hide how tightly he gripped them, his knuckles white as he pushed those thoughts into the darkest corners of his mind.

_She has the right to move on and she is no longer mine to possess. I am Fen’Harel, the betrayer, liar, deceiver...I will always have to leave her and she will never be able to understand who I truly am or the terrible things I will have to do_. He told himself as he held his mask of calm tightly to his face.

“If he is aware of what you are doing, so be it. But if he is under the impression you are in love with him when you are clearly trying to infuriate me than you must tell him the truth. He is no use to you as a Commander if he is broken.”

“Yet a broken Inquisitor is?” Her tone was colder than the Frostback Mountains themselves. She slipped her other arm into the tunic, stiffly pulling it over her shoulders and covering herself.

“You are stronger than he is and I was never toying with you.”

“Ah, I must have been mistaken then, you taking me to a romantic moon lit waterfall, telling me how you wanted to show me how important I was to you, there’s no reason that should have led me to believe that would be when you would tell me you wanted to spend eternity together...Of course I should have seen that you took me there to tell me that I have slave markings on my face and that you were done with me.” The sarcasm dripped from her tongue like venom. “No, that is not confusing or resembling anything akin to toying with someone’s emotions at all! How foolish of me!” She practically tore her tunic as she tightened it around her front, angrily fastening it back together before reaching for her belt.

His eyes followed her hands; he couldn't look at her face when it was full of malice.

“It was an emotional entanglement that would benefit neither of us. The blame is mine, not yours. It was irresponsible and selfish of me but that made it no less real. Perhaps I should never have taken you there, I merely wanted....I wanted...one last perfect moment with you, somewhere we wouldn't be disturbed.”

“You mean somewhere I couldn't make a scene. Seriously, 'It's not you, it's me' is your answer? That is what will make me feel like you hadn't just thrown me to the wolves when I was at my most vulnerable? Telling me it was real is supposed to have me believe that our entire relationship wasn't just an enjoyable side benefit for you?” She crossed her arms in front of herself, her eyes defiant. The anger she'd been holding for the past few days had reached its boiling point, he hadn't given her an answer she could accept.

He clenched his jaw, she wasn't listening, she was acting like an irrational human, and their influence was clear by her biting sarcasm.

“I told you I had other considerations before it began, it was my fault that I did not heed them I made a selfish mistake, but none of this should have come to you as a surprise Inquisitor, it was bound to end one way or another, nothing lasts forever.” He regretted throwing part of the blame on her out of anger the moment the words slipped past his lips, but it was done. His frustration had started to creep into his voice.

He wanted to grab her and hold her hard in his arms until she broke into sobs and let out all of her bottled emotions while he whispered ancient elvhen words of consolation, promising her in a language she couldn’t understand that he would return for her if he could, how he didn't want to mar her perfection with his past and future deeds. Yet at the same time he hated himself for having caused her pain, he should have known better, he should have had more restraint instead of allowing himself to cave to his own desires, he did not deserve to touch her ever again. He wanted to run from everything but he could not, not yet. All of these thoughts rushed through his head but he held them, accepting her words of anger as his punishment, he deserved all of them, each like a lash of a whip across his back, she had all the right in Thedas to be furious with him.

Before he could even realize it, she had launched herself at him. Her trained abilities as a rogue had her move more quickly than he could react; she slapped him hard across his face and had put all of her weight behind the blow.

“How dare you! First you come here presuming the right to tell me who I can sleep with, and then you dare tell me that I should have known better about you? That I should have seen it coming? Vivienne and Dorian were right, you were a mistake. If anything was unworthy here, it was you!” Each breath seethed with rage, dripping with a deadly poison, she was coiled tighter than a feral cat, waiting for him to make another false move and give her an excuse to strike him again. Her eyes burned like veil fire.

He cringed at her words, they stung him harder than the slap and his skin was burning from it.

“You are right, it is not my place to direct your path and I was never worthy of your affections.”

Her eyes softened and she lowered her hand, the tension easing from her body as she searched his face, she was confused at his sudden change in demeanor.

He reached out to touch her hand gently as he continued to speak “in all my years in the fade, I thought I had found something, someone that I could truly be myself with and who would accept me, flawed as I am. I should have known fate would never have been so kind to me as to let me have that as well as right the wrongs of my past, that it would force me to tear myself from you so I can do what I must. I am sorry vhenan’ara for how I have wronged you.” He squeezed her hand softly before releasing it. “You are free to do whatever you choose, I just ask that you spare my heart any more torment. Dareth Shiral”

She had no more words to say, she only had questions she knew he wouldn't answer yet this time she accepted that without anger. His face was full of sorrow; she could see how his hurt ran deeper than her own, that she understood. “I....I will be more discreet. I’m sorry Solas... Dareth Shiral”

From then on, Arynn kept her relations quiet; she had even asked her companions to leave him be and for the most part they listened. Sera and Blackwall allegedly had placed a few pieces of horse dung in his bedroll one drunken night, but the rest remained civil. Varric and Bull pretended nothing had happened, Cassandra kept herself on the opposite side of Skyhold to avoid dismembering him while Dorian and Vivienne spent more time in each others company keeping busy discussing various aspects of magic and politics.

After Corypheus was defeated, she was not surprised that Solas had left, if anything it was a relief that he had gone. Having him there was a shameful reminder of her actions to hurt him and it tore at her heart whenever she saw his face. It was better with him gone, this way both of them could move on; even though a part of her would always wish to be able to slip back into his arms and listen while he tells her stories of all he’d seen in the Fade, imagining herself experiencing it all beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> All game dialogue is credited to Patrick Weekes, Bioware and Dragon Age writers.
> 
> "In tu setheneran din emma na" -Essentially means "do not dwell in lands no longer yours"


End file.
